One of the things that always amazes me is how often we miss critical details when we read familiar Bible stories. It may be because we have heard or read them so often that we don’t actually read them.
Let me cite a couple of examples from the account of Noah and the flood.
How many animals did Noah allow into the ark? Most people will say that’s easy. It’s two; he brought the animals onboard two by two.
The Bible has a different answer.
Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. Genesis 7:1-3 ESV
There are pairs, seven pairs for clean animals and birds and a single pair for the unclean.
How did the Ark stay afloat when everything else, including boats, was destroyed?
Was it the construction? God gave very explicit instructions about how to build it.
And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood.Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits,its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks. Genesis 6:13-16 ESV
That may be part of the reason, but the larger portion of the answer is recorded elsewhere.
And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in. Genesis 7:16 ESV
The ark remained afloat, keeping its inhabitants safe because the Lord sealed them in and the flood out.
The Lord who sealed the ark for Noah, thus protecting Him, is the same Lord who seals us when we are Christians. It’s why Paul could say with confidence,
Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. Romans 8:35-37 ESV
Jesus put it this way:
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. John 10:28-29 ESV
Believers are sealed in by God. What a blessing.
Be blessed
Hallelu Yah / Praise God
Kevin
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